Agreement reached Wednesday night after three weeks on the picket line A strike called by IBEW 1220 against Chicago public television station WTTW has come to an end. As first reported by Robert Feder Wednesday evening, the union came to terms with the PBS station on a new deal lasting until July 2025 containing “fair economic gains”, covering camera operators, […]
Popularity isn’t exactly overrated as 2021 ends a wild year in media Like mystery of the sphinx or crop circles, you just can’t explain the continued popularity of certain things despite questionable changes. After the firing of Mark Giangreco and seemingly public disdain for one of her former co-anchors, ABC 7 remains on top of local Chicago news ratings, […]
Cook County State’s Attorney blasts Nexstar’s WGN-TV over poll A poll released by Nexstar-owned independent WGN-TV on Tuesday showed how Chicago-area residents felt about their local political leadership and pressing issues like crime. And let me tell you – it wasn’t pretty as people seem to have it in for Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, […]
Ratings are down for local news – but not out [Editor’s Note: This post was updated on June 1.] If you’ve noticed, ratings are down across-the-board for just about everything on linear TV these days. And yes, that includes local news. As reported by Robert Feder Friday, three Chicago news stations: ABC-owned WLS-TV, NBC-owned WMAQ-TV and Nexstar independent WGN-TV, all […]
Lightfoot’s decision to exclude white journalists sets off firestorm. But it’s a conversation long overdue The latest dustup between the Chicago media and minority communities is unusual because the person behind it happens to be the Mayor of Chicago. On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot – the first Black woman to be elected to the position in the city’s history, decided […]
Nothing fake about this investigative report as investigative journalism proves its worth The next time someone yammers about “fake news”, there was another reminder this week on how journalists play an important role in our society. On Monday during its 10 p.m. newscast, CBS 2 – CBS-owned WBBM-TV here in Chicago – aired an eight-minute report and showed an exclusive […]
ABC and NBC schedule Presidential town halls opposite each other as ratings dictate decisions instead of common sense NBC’s decision to schedule a President Trump town hall opposite Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is so ridiculous, it’s hard to explain. A second Presidential debate was supposed to take place tonight between Trump and Biden. But Trump tested positive for […]
Chicago’s news media under fire for coverage of African-American communities Even though a Tribune article published Friday fell short in describing the tense relationship between the local news media and the Black community, it did bring up valid points needing to be addressed. In a sub-headline titled “Black Chicagoans, white media at odds”, writer Christen Johnson reported on the frail […]
Local stations right in the thick of it [Editor’s Note: This is a new version of a story posted earlier Monday.] Just like on Survivor when an unsuspecting contestant is blindsided at Tribal Council, Chicagoans were caught off-guard after a night of looting and vandalism in downtown Chicago and River North areas early Monday morning, and some of the mayhem […]
Sundance favorite on 2019 Chicago Mayoral race to be featured Six years after CNN’s inane Chicagoland documentary premiered and turned out to be a colossal flop, another made-in-Chicago documentary – this time about the most recent mayoral race, will soon have a linear TV premiere. Earlier this week, the National Geographic Channel – better known as NatGeo, bought the rights […]
Chicago crime grabs more airtime than Covid-19 pandemic as the city continues to grab global headlines for gun violence You’d think in a middle of a national health pandemic, cable news channels would focus on the issues at hand when more than 150,000 people have died from Covid-19, right? Of course not – especially when it comes to Fox News. […]
In response to complaints from readers and even reporters and employees from the paper he works for, the Chicago Tribune has decided to shift John Kass’ column into the opinion section in the print edition instead of being the “lead columnist”. The move comes after a column he wrote ran last week criticized Democrat-run cities and even suggested the campaigning […]
Disney Plus made the biggest splash of the year 2019 saw the end of several institutions, big media battles, and disappointing sports teams. Let’s start with the huge changes in big media, as Disney closed on its purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and Viacom reuniting with CBS again with a new name (ViacomCBS) as the race […]
Local TV stations already shunning ads; Juul halts all advertising (Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on September 22 and has been updated.) With complaints from viewers increasing on social media and users being hospitalized (including a few in the Chicago area), three major media companies announced they were no longer accepting advertising for vaping products and e-cigarettes. WarnerMedia, […]
Local stations to carry speech In what has to be a first in recent memory, a sitting Chicago Mayor will address the city’s financial problems in a prime-time speech. Mayor Lori Lightfoot will address those concerns Thursday night in a speech airing on most of the Chicago area’s media outlets, including TV and radio stations. Even though some have billed […]